Notre Dame has picked itself up from 2 opening season losses and climbed back into the good graces of the country with a trio of wins by a combined 140-50 score line. Following a 2-0 start in ACC play–including a now more impressive win over Virginia–we see NC State coming to South Bend wounded after league losses to Duke and Virginia Tech.

The Wolfpack did beat FCS Coastal Athletic Association doormat Campbell last week but the 23-21 home loss to the Hokies really put a damper on their 2025 season hopes.

NC State (+23.5) at #16 Notre Dame

Notre Dame Stadium
South Bend, IN
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025
Time: 3:30 PM ET
TV: Peacock

It’s that time of year. 

It had been rumored during the off-season that last week’s game against Boise State would be the annual Peacock game. Not so! This weekend’s matchup with NC State is being streamed exclusively via Peacock and will not air on NBC.

Vegas Corner

The line this week opened at 21.5 points in favor of Notre Dame and has jumped around a little bit. It initially went up to 22.5, then went back down to 21.5, and has been rising since mid-week now coming in around 23.5 points. The over/under has fallen a couple points to 60.5 so Las Vegas is expecting some points this weekend.

Weather Report

Last weekend’s scorcher won’t be repeated and South Bend looks set for some traditional fall weather this Saturday. Temperatures should climb into the mid-60’s but expect any morning tailgating to be a little chilly. It’ll be cloudy with a chance for rain showers, although I think we’ll be okay and it’ll stay dry.

Series History

Tied 2-2-0

NC State is one of those programs that feels like Notre Dame has played a lot more than in reality. We’ll chalk that up to some memorable games in the recent past. Who can forget the infamous 2016 hurricane game where the Irish scored 3 points in a loss, attempting an insane 26 passes with 9 completions? Yeah, no one forgot about that one. The last meeting in 2023 featured the long weather delay and Audric Estime taking a carry 80 yards to the house immediately upon the resumption of the game.

A nice way to restart the game back in 2023.

This is only the 2nd meeting in 8 years which seems odd given Notre Dame’s deal with the ACC that began back in 2014. We also won’t see the Wolfpack during the regular season until 2029 when the Irish visit Raleigh again. Here’s the non-west coast member ACC regular season games played by Notre Dame since their contract began:

Boston College – 5
Florida State – 5
North Carolina – 5
Syracuse – 5
Louisville – 5
Clemson – 4
Duke – 4
Wake Forest – 4
Virginia – 4
Georgia Tech – 4
Virginia Tech – 4
Pittsburgh – 4
NC State – 3
Miami – 3 (includes this year’s meeting)

Fun Fact(s)

The Wolfpack nickname was unofficially used from 1921 although NC State also went by the Aggies, Techs, and the Red Terror.

NC State is the 4th largest ACC school in terms of enrollment trailing Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Virginia Tech. It is the largest school in the Carolinas.

A very good boy.

The school is on its third wolf mascot called Tuffy III and is a “Tamaskan” breed mixture of Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, and German Shepherd. This guy has been in the role since 2021, but of course since Notre Dame doesn’t allow live mascots inside the stadium so we won’t get to see this beauty.

Coaching Staff

This is year 13 for Dave Doeren at NC State and he’s currently the 5th most tenured head coach at their current school in the nation. A fixture in the middle to upper pack of the ACC throughout his time at the school, Doeren has won 8+ games in 7 separate seasons. Is he on the hot seat though? It’s possible things are getting a little warm following the recent losses to Duke and particularly Virginia Tech–the latter who already axed their coach weeks ago.

Doeren just signed an extension 18 months ago and he’s paid nearly $6 million per year–it’s a pretty cushy job with expectations not set terribly high. The current contract runs through the 2029 season and his buyout is right around $15 million. If NC State fans want a change, I doubt it’ll come any time soon. They would have to lose a lot more games for it to make financial sense.

Is he pooping?

Kurt Roper had been assistant with the Wolfpack since 2019 and was given the offensive coordinator duties this year after Robert Anae was fired in December last year.

Last year’s defensive coordinator Tony Gibson left to be the head coach at Marshall and NC State brought in DJ Eliot, formerly a DC at places such as Kentucky, Colorado, Kansas, and Temple. They also brought in Charlton Warren as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach from North Carolina. Eliot’s daughter Drue passed away from cancer right before the Virginia Tech game and it has been an emotional time for the NC State community. Eliot did not coach against the Hokies and Warren called the plays.

Tight end coach Gavin Locklear, a former walk-on at NC State (2014-17), had been in various roles with the school since graduating and finally was given a full-time assistant job for 2025.

Portal

The Wolfpack didn’t supplement a ton on offense for 2025. No skill players are making an impact while Elon tight end Cody Hardy sees the field with a couple receptions so far. Up front on the offensive line, center Jalen Grant came over from Purdue and right tackle Teague Andersen came to Raleigh from Utah State.

Pass rusher Cian Slone is another starter from Utah State. They also added defensive end Sabastian Harsh from Wyoming with hybrid linebacker Tra Thomas from Temple seeing the field often. Additionally, Northwestern transfer linebacker Kenny Soares started last week with an injury to 2nd leading tackler Sean Brown, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

NC State has suffered several injuries to their depth in the secondary and are expected to be missing a few players against Notre Dame. On the transfer market they’ve brought in corner Jamel Johnson from Temple, corner Brian Nelson from North Texas, and safety JJ Johnson from Georgia State.

Top Players

QB CJ Bailey

A battle of CJ’s this week, neither of whom use the C.J. moniker with the periods. Bailey took over the job week 3 of last year following the career-ending concussion issues to Coastal Carolina transfer Grayson McCall. Once rail thin on a 6’6″ frame, he’s gained weight and looks more durable. Bailey has certainly been productive–in 15 career starts he has 4,073 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. He can run a little too, and comes into the weekend 3rd nationally among power quarterbacks in completion percentage trailing only Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and Beau Pribula (Missouri). If I’m honest, Bailey’s ceiling seems really high and he looks like someone who will be generating a lot of interest in the transfer portal this off-season or next.

RB Hollywood Smothers

Smothers racked up 2,787 rushing yards as a sophomore and junior in Charlotte area high school before sitting out his senior season due to an eligibility issue. He committed to Oklahoma only to redshirt in 2023 before a transfer to NC State.

Better tackle no. 3 on Saturday. 

Smothers became the starting running back for the Wolfpack late last year and has offered a ton of explosiveness to their offense. Across his 12 career starts, Smother has gained 1,132 rushing yards for an impressive 6.94 yards per carry average. He’s also a big target in the passing game with 21 receptions in 2025.

TE Justin Joly

The New York native came over to NC State ahead of 2024 after a couple nice seasons at UConn. Following an impressive 43 receptions and a team-leading 661 receiving yards, Joly was the only pre-season All-ACC member on this Wolfpack team. He’s not a prototypical big modern tight end at 6’3″ and his game is very much in the mold of a big receiver. Coming into Saturday, his 28 receptions is tied for the 2nd most nationally among tight ends.

DE Sabastian Harsh

Harsh was a nice addition from Wyoming after 5 seasons in Laramie where he didn’t play in 2020 or 2022 and still totaled 17.5 tackles for loss. Among a struggling defense, he’s been a good player for the Wolfpack with 6 tackles for loss, 5 hurries, and even a couple pass breakups.

Bad Matchup

NC State’s Passing Game

Bailey has started fast during games, has been extremely accurate on first down (80% completions), and if Notre Dame doesn’t tackle well this game could turn into a shootout. NC State runs a ton of crossing routes, throws underneath a lot, and does a good job scheming guys to get open. I think a big goal in this game will be not so much forcing incompletions or creating turnovers but making sure a shallow crossing route consistently only gains 3 or 4 yards instead of 9 yards. Bailey completing a high percentage of passes but the Wolfpack only converting 42.4% of their 3rd downs (55th nationally) stuck out to me.

Good Matchup

Notre Dame’s Running Game

I have this belief from the past that NC State is a tough defensive program with a mildly competitive offense. They’re nothing of the sort these days. Yes, the McCall injury derailed their season a year ago but they allowed 6 yards per play on defense–95th worst in the nation. This just does not look like a talented Wolfpack defense and the coordinator switch hasn’t helped much. Against their trio of power conference opponents this year they’ve given up, that’s right, over 6 yards per play in each game.

Allowing a combined 486 rushing yards at 7.7 yards per carry to the Virginia schools must have Notre Dame’s offense salivating.

Special Teams

Redshirt freshman Nick Konieczynski won the placekicking job coming out of camp but after missing 2 field goals in the opener has been benched in favor of redshirt junior Kanoah Vinesett who made 18 of his 24 field goals last year with the Wolfpack and is 2 of 3 in 2025 so far. With only 6 field goal attempts (and Notre Dame with only 4!) I would expect a lot of 4th down conversion attempts on Saturday.

Fifth-year senior punter Caden Noonkester took over the job for the last 4 games in 2022 and has been starting for NC State ever since.

Redshirt freshman Jayden “Duke” Scott (he gets his nickname printed officially by the school) returns kicks with 81 yards this fall. True freshman receiver Teddy Hoffmann is the punt returner with jus 32 yards in 2025.

A quick note that SP+ has NC State ranked 113th in special teams and they’ve been pretty leaky in both kick coverage (109th in yards per game allowed) and punt coverage (112th in yards per game allowed). FEI has their special teams ranked 123rd, dead last among power conference teams. Is Marty Biagi licking his lips?

Prediction

NC State has some potential but looks to be at least a year away from being a more well-rounded football team. They don’t recruit terribly well and appear to have had a major talent deficiency on defense for an extended period of time. With half a season under a new coordinator it’s just not enough time to fix things.

CJ Bailey offers hope for the future, but again, things aren’t clicking fully for the Wolfpack offense. He was dominant at Chaminade-Madonna within a high level of Florida prep (6,480 passing yards and 92 touchdowns his last 2 seasons!) winning a ton of games and yet was only a low 4-star recruit. He was raw back then, still is now, and despite adding muscle is still really lean on his long frame.

Bailey is showing more consistency in his first full season as starter.

One thing that jumps out is that NC State’s offensive line can really cause problems for themselves. Just incredibly inconsistent. Their pass blocking can be okay and when Bailey has time things look good. The run blocking can be downright atrocious at times, though. They’ve allowed 42 tackles for loss in 6 games, tied for the most among power programs. Hollywood Smothers is dangerous but he’s often swallowed up at, near, or behind the line of scrimmage.

This has to be a game where Notre Dame creates a ton of havoc plays on defense.

Nickelback DaVonte Smith is set to miss the game which puts more pressure on true freshman Dallas Golden, who’s played pretty well so far in his appearances. This is probably a game where NC State moves the ball just enough to make it annoying but if the Irish keep things in front of them, force some field goals and a couple 4th down conversions that fail, it should lead to a win.

NC State 19

Notre Dame 40